Menu

August 14th – August 20th

The Valley Nerd Watch!

This pleasant weekend we got to see our mom and celebrate the 100th birthday of our grandma, which was nice. There were small children there and when you made faces at them they either looked confused or they made the same face back which is pretty much all we ask for out of a social gathering!

Also hey guess what we’re making cookies for Nerd Nite NoHo tomorrow! We’re doing a bake-sale/charity drive again and they’re going to be as always extremely good and you’re going to love them. Nerd Nite is to reiterate tomorrow at 7:00pm to 9:00pm and it’ll be a blast as always! Wesley Olds will be speaking about weather forecasting and Adam Marks will talk about song mash-ups! Come say hi at the door! If you tell us you enjoy the Nerd Watch we’ll be extremely excited!

We got to play Not Alone at the Wednesday Games at the Brass Cat this past week and it was really neat! Fast hidden-movement game that’s pretty quick to pick up. Our previous experience with hidden-movement was the excellent but super-intimidating Whitechapel, and it was nice to play one that was boiled down to a real basic but effective “which of these places will be safe this turn?”

THIS WEEK

Art:

Learn to play the only instrument that looks like a small guitar besides a guitar that’s quite small. Julie brings her 20 Ukuleles and her prepared lessons to get the playing started! This is limited to 20 participants! Reserve a Ukulele by registering early by calling 413-420-8101! We suppose you could also just attend willy-nilly, but you may wind up watching 20 other people learn to play Ukulele.

Local presenter extraordinaire Barry “the Presenter” Deitz will speak on Thoreau, his life, and his works! Learn more about a person who really made a heck of an impact pretty much describing how nice the Valley is to people for a large bit of his life. We think. Look don’t spread this around but we’re pretty sure we’ve never read a single word Thoreau wrote and it’s making us feel a bit embarrassed.

Board Games:

Bring your family and hang out at the library! Games, puzzles, all sorts of projects for families to do together! And if you find that your family is getting large and unwieldy just play like a 7-player game of Risk and someone will definitely estrange themselves.

Play board games at a wonderful local store! The staff will help you set yourself up, and you’ll quickly be exploring fun new games with a whole bunch of other friendly Valley residents! There’s also always a game demo available to show you something new! Beginners welcome, ages 13+ recommended, younger folks welcome with a parent!

Books:

A family is riven by secrets and forced to pit love against loyalty! Isma has finally started pursuing her dreams, but she can’t stop worrying about her sister Aneeka or her brother Parvaiz. Then, Eamonn enters the picture… is he a chance at love? A chance to help Parvaiz? What sacrifices will Isma make for love?

Card Games:

Play Magic in the Booster Draft format which we are not super familiar with but it seems like you basically get a bunch of booster packs and draft a deck from them. Your $16 entry fee includes MA Sales Tax and purchases your 3 boosters, as well as adding a pack to the prize pool! Everyone who participates will get at least one prize pack, and special promos will go to exceptional players! This is an intermediate-level event, ages 13+ recommended! Younger players allowed with an adult accompanying them!

Computers:

Technology is a cruel mistress that each day claws at us. Fight back against the spiraling confusion of technological influence in your life by taking this class by Rita Gavelis and learn about how to explore and learn about tablets and get great tips about figuring out how to fix them when they cease to work!

Thursday, August 17th

Amherst Media [246 College Street, Amherst, MA] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

August 2017 Western Mass Drupal Users Group Meeting

If you love Drupal, dopal yourself a favor and attend this event! Learn the tip of the month, the module of the month, hear some lightning talks, and then listen to the presentation “Using Patternlab with Drupal!” It’s a great chance to get better at the Drupal you knowpal and lovepal!

Entertainment:

Monday, August 14th

The World War 2 Club [50 Conz St, Northampton, MA 01060] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Nerd Nite NoHo: Weather and Song

Nerd Nite! The nitiest nite we know. It’s going to get extremely wonderful in there as we learn from Wesley Olds why our weather forecasts aren’t down to the second, and from everyone’s favorite Adam Marks how to make music mashups!

Watch anime! Watch one about sports! There’s a bunch of neat sports-related anime we think. There’s not a ton of sports-related serial media that we’re aware of in non-animated media. Friday Night Lights? That’s the one we know. We don’t know a lot about anime or sports, so learn for us!

Kids:

Do you love graphic novels and are you 12-17 years old? Come speak with other people who love graphic novels and are 12-17 years old! We personally really liked reading the first volume of Usagi Yojimbo recently, as well as Womanthology: Space! There are a ton of wonderful things out there for you to read and share and use as inspiration for your own creations!

Movies:

A dramatic comedy or ‘Comatic’ as everyone says film about an old Jewish baker and his new assistant, a Muslim teenager. They grow to become unlikely friends as the teen navigates the difficulties of life as an immigrant.

RPGs:

RPGs are great! Play Noirlandia, or Questlandia, or Dread, or Monsterhearts, or Apocalypse World, or Dogs in the Vineyard, or One Thousand and One Nights, or Breaking the Ice or any of a lot of amazing games created right here in this Valley! They’re all very good!

Play the old familiar, the classic, the one with dungeons and also dragons! You’ll be exploring the Dwarven fortress Stone Tooth! The adventure is recommended for characters of at least level 3. To enter, you need to get a $5 day pass, but that becomes store credit immediately!